旅游英語景點介紹—大雁塔 big wild goose pagoda

【簡介】唐永徽三年(652年)，為了保管從印度帶回來的數(shù)百部梵本佛經(jīng)，玄奘在大慈恩寺的西院主持修建了一座西域風(fēng)格的藏經(jīng)塔。這座塔最初名稱為慈恩寺塔，此后被改稱為雁塔，最終與薦福寺內(nèi)的小雁塔相區(qū)別而被改稱為大雁塔。而關(guān)于“雁塔”這一名稱的來歷，流傳較廣的說法認(rèn)為是根據(jù)“埋雁建塔”的典故來命名的。大雁塔，位于陜西省西安市雁塔區(qū)的大慈恩寺內(nèi)，是一座7層方形佛塔。該塔是西安市內(nèi)著名古跡及標(biāo)志性建筑，同時也是西安市市徽當(dāng)中的主要組成部分。2013年時作為“絲綢之路：長安-天山廊道的路網(wǎng)”的組成部分被列入世界文化遺產(chǎn)中。塔底層南門外兩側(cè)的磚龕中各有一塊石碑，其中一塊為唐太宗李世民與貞觀二十二年(648年)為玄奘所翻譯的經(jīng)書撰寫的總序《大唐三藏圣教序》，另一塊為唐高宗李治為《大唐三藏圣教序》撰寫的《大唐三藏圣教序記》。兩塊石碑均為褚遂良所寫，保存較為完整，字跡清晰。碑額上刻有蟠螭，側(cè)面刻有卷葉蔓草，碑座上刻有天人舞樂的圖案。

As the symbol of the old-line xian, big wild goose pagoda is a well-preserved ancient building and a holy place for buddhists. it is located in the southern suburb of xian city, about 4 kilometers (2.49 miles) from the downtown of the city. standing in the da ci'en temple complex, it attracts numerous visitors for its fame in the buddhist religion, its simple but appealing style of construction, and its new square in front of the temple. it is rated as a national key cultural relic preserve as well as an aaaa tourist attraction.

this attraction can be divided into three parts: the big wild goose pagoda, the da ci'en temple, and the north square of big wild goose pagoda.

big wild goose pagodaoriginally built in 652 during the reign of emperor gaozong of the tang dynasty (618-907), it functioned to collect buddhist materials that were taken from india by the hierarch xuanzang.

xuanzang started off from chang'an (the ancient xian), along the silk road and through deserts, finally arriving in india, the cradle of buddhism. enduring 17 years and traversing 100 countries, he obtained buddha figures, 657 kinds of sutras, and several buddha relics. having gotten the permission of emperor gaozong (628-683), xuanzang, as the first abbot of da ci'en temple, supervised the building of a pagoda inside it. with the support of royalty, he asked 50 hierarchs into the temple to translate sanskrit in sutras into chinese, totaling 1,335 volumes, which heralded a new era in the history of translation. based on the journey to india, he also wrote a book entitled 'pilgrimage to the west' in the tang dynasty, to which scholars attached great importance.first built to a height of 60 meters (197 feet) with five stories, it is now 64.5 meters (211.6 feet) high with an additional two stories. it was said that after that addition came the saying-'saving a life exceeds building a seven-storied pagoda'. externally it looks like a square cone, simple but grand and it is a masterpiece of buddhist construction. built of brick, its structure is very firm. inside the pagoda, stairs twist up so that visitors can climb and overlook the panorama of xian city from the arch-shaped doors on four sides of each storey. on the walls are engraved fine statues of buddha by the renowned artist yan liben of the tang dynasty. steles by noted calligraphers also grace the pagoda.

as for the reason why it is called big wild goose pagoda, there is a legend. according to ancient stories of buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. one day, they couldn't find meat to buy. upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: 'today we have no meat. i hope the merciful bodhisattva will give us some.' at that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. all the monks were startled and believed that bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. they established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat. hence it got the name 'big wild goose pagoda'.

da ci'en temple

da ci'en temple is the home of big wild goose pagoda. in 648, to commemorate the dead virtuous queen, royalty ordered the building of a temple named 'ci'en' (mercy and kindness), for which the status and scale far exceeded all others. today, with an area of 32,314 square meters (38,648.5 square yards), one seventh of the original area, it still retains its grandeur.before the temple, there stands a statue of hierarch xuanzang, the meritorious hierarch. walking on and across a small bridge, visitors will see the gates of the temple. with guarding lions, the temple seems stately for lions were said to function as talismans.

entering the temple you will see two buildings-bell tower in the east and drum tower in the west. inside the bell tower hangs an iron bell 15 tons (14.76 gross tons) in weight. it was molded in 1548 in the ming dynasty (1368-1644). along the central axis are arranged the hall of mahavira, sermon hall, big wild goose pagoda, and the hall of xuanzang sanzang. in the hall of mahavira are three carved statues of sakyamuni, and 18 arhats as well as xuanzang. the sermon hall is where buddhist disciples would listen to a sermon. a bronze statue of amitabha is dedicated and a buddha statue is collected by xuanzang as oblation. the hall of xuanzang sanzang is north of big wild goose pagoda. in this hall are xuanzang's relic and a bronze statue of a seated xuanzang. the inner wall is chiseled with murals depicting this hierarch's story. renowned as the contemporary dunhuang buddhist storehouse praised by unesco, it is the biggest memorial of xuanzang.

north square of big wild goose pagoda

surrounding big wild goose pagoda, the scenery is also quite charming, especially the square north of the da ci'en temple. covering about 110,000 square meters (131563 square yards) plus 20,000 square meters (23920.6 square yards) of water area, it holds many records: in asia, it is the biggest tang-culture square, the biggest fountain and waterscape square, and the largest-scale sculptures area. in the world, it has the most benches, the longest light-belt, and the largest-scale acoustic complex.
the entire square is composed of waterscape fountains, a cultural square, gardens and tourist paths. there you can taste real chinese culture and